A Mamdani Strategist’s Advice for Democrats in the 2026 Midterms

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1:56Kind of a stepfather. Secrets have been revealed. In these difficult times for our nation, everybody is looking for comfort. And for our household, it turns out to be a 13-year-old cockapoo. So, yeah. So you guys have been preaching the gospel on dogs for now years. Have you been converted? Yeah. Okay. Enough. All right. Admit it. They're the best. Oh, they really actually are pretty great, I have to say. I have to say. Come on. Good news and trouble them. Looking up around the house. Well, Ellie welcomes a new member of the... Ellie welcomes Maisie. As does Rosie. Thank you. Ellie and Rosie are pleased.

2:34As do we. For welcoming Maisie into the fold of political dogs.

2:42Welcome to The Political Scene from The New Yorker, a weekly discussion about the big questions in American politics. I'm Susan Glasser, and I'm joined by my colleagues Evan Osnos and Jane Mayer, as ever. Hi, Evan. Hi, Jane. Good morning, guys. Hi. So great to be with you. Okay, so this week I've been thinking about Will Rogers' famous line, I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat. All things would indicate that 2026 is lining up very much in the Democrats' favor. Let's be real about that in these midterm elections. We haven't talked about that much in the podcast, so I'm glad we're going to dig into it.

3:24This week, Donald Trump's approval ratings have sunk to the lowest levels of either of his two terms in office. And his numbers are even worse when you look at things that Americans actually care about, like the economy or prices. They're not big fans of the new war in Iran that he's launched. Early indications from elections around the country seem pretty strong for Democrats just this week. In fact, Democrats flipped a statehouse seat in Palm Beach County, Florida, as in right in Donald Trump's backyard, the very same district where Mar-a-Lago is located. There's a bigger story here. Since last year, Democrats have been flipping state legislative seats all across the country.

4:02They've won governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia. They've won big mayoral races. So looking ahead to the midterms, Evan, is this a Democrats are going to win, but they might just screw it up again? Question? Will they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as it were? Look, I think that there's a lot of pretty positive indicators out there. Right now, Democrats only need a three-seat pickup to win the House. And if you follow the Cook Political Report, which, of course, is a nonpartisan analysis, they recently moved 18 seats into the Democrats' favor. That's a big swing. They don't do that casually.

4:41And, you know, one of the big questions, and we'll kind of hash this out, is how much is this about getting Democrats to show up? How much is this about getting independents and Republicans who are disenchanted? But a telling little indicator out of Palm Beach that the Democrat who won there named Emily Gregory says, if you look at the numbers, it's pretty clear that a lot of independents and Republicans must have voted for me, she said. So something is happening. Jane, what is in the air as far as you're concerned? I mean, certainly there's an awful lot of optimism on the Democratic side. Democrats, I know, are already laying plans for what kinds of investigations they're going to lead in Congress if they get the majority.

5:17So there's certainly a lot of optimism on that side. And one of the things that's been interesting is that, as you guys will remember, there was a big effort by the Republicans to try to fix the maps in their favor. And everyone thought, oh, my God, they're going to make up for it by just gerrymandering districts in their favor. But the Democrats kind of went hand to hand in combat on that. And it appears that it's going to come out to be a wash. So that maneuver did not give the advantage back to the Republicans that Republicans thought they'd have. Yeah, well, it's interesting you mentioned the kind of either rational or irrational exuberance, as the case may be.

5:58You know, this is still Democrats we're talking about. And so you've got to wonder if they really can pull it off. First of all, Jane, the dark money expert, I noticed that Republicans have an enormous advantage heading into this, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars more on hand than Democrats do. That's one factor. There's still the factor that Democrats coming out of the 2024 election, you know, they have a pretty negative brand as a party. Although when you actually look at this is a choice, you know, Joe Biden's old line about, But, you know, I'm not running against God here. You know, we're running against a specific political party.

6:40Democrats seem to have in all of the polls the momentum, the turnout, independence. Oh, my goodness. Have you seen those numbers? I mean, they're remarkable. There's something like 70 percent of, you know, young independents, just the kind of people who might have turned the election for Donald Trump in 2024. These people, it's hard to envision them ever going back to Trump and the Republicans at this point. But I just I feel like I'm glad we're going to dig into all of this because it's still not settled exactly how Democrats are going to approach this midterm and whether they can capitalize on what looks to be a blue wave building.

7:17And whether they have a message beyond just anti-Trump. I mean, I think that's always a question. In terms of irrational exuberance, I have heard that James Carville, the sort of legendary consultant that basically wrote into prominence with Bill Clinton, is predicting that the Senate, too, is going to go to the Democrats. I think a lot of people think that might be irrational exuberance. But there is a lot of momentum and excitement on the Democratic side at this point. And you'll remember, Jane, of course, you know, Carvel caused a lot of controversy when he said, look, Democrats' best strategy right now is essentially to do nothing.

7:53Sit on your hands and let Donald Trump implode. And here we are a few months later and Donald Trump is imploding, but there's also a lot of changes on the field. And the question is, you know, what should Democrats be saying about things like the war in Iran? What exactly should Democrats be saying about some of the big issues which have come up since then? And actually, I'm excited because our guest today is someone who can speak to that very much from one wing, the left wing of the Democratic Party. We have Morris Katz, the political strategist behind Zoran Mondani's rise. He's now working on some of the marquee races around the country, including Graham Plattner's controversial primary campaign in Maine Senate race.

8:33And so I think we're going to get a really interesting perspective later today. But let's talk a little bit about the Iran war. We are now having this conversation almost exactly at the four-week mark of this conflict. It's not at all clear that there are any real peace talks happening, although Donald Trump says they are. But Donald Trump also says again and again that the war was actually won. So it's a little bit confusing that we have to send thousands and thousands of American ground troops to the Middle East. Does that mean that they have to maybe win the war all over again? What do you think?

9:06You know, I think, look, the Democrats are in a difficult position. I don't think there's a whole lot of people that were cheering for the idea of a nuclearized Iran. I think there are a lot of people who were not sad to see the Ayatollahs go. And yet there is this big fat fact facing us, which is Donald Trump ran on the idea that he would keep us out of war and that he would bring down prices. And instead, he brought us into a war in the Middle East and prices are going up. So that seems to be kind of like a big, obvious pitch across the plate for Democrats. But what you're hearing a lot of is actually talk about process, you know, things like people demanding hearings.

9:44Why is it that we weren't asked to vote on whether this war should happen or not? So, I mean, this is a genuine question to you guys. Susan, is that a good idea to focus on? Does that sort of allow them to dodge the question of whether the war is a good idea? Or should they go straight on and say, we reject this war from day one? Yeah, it's very interesting. I think you're right that you've seen, especially initially, a little bit of a dance. What I've noticed is that Democrats have become much more forceful as the war has gone on. There was some uncertainty at the beginning about whether it was going to be a quick kind of decapitation and move on when it's been clear that Trump has not achieved that goal.

10:19And, of course, now he's going to pretend that that never was the goal in the first place. That's important, the strategic mess that's happening here. That has, I think, emboldened Democratic criticism of the war because it's obvious that Donald Trump came out saying he was going to change the regime and take over the oil. And instead, he's locked himself in to a really problematic situation where Iran has turned off the spigot for 20 percent of the world's oil and gas, which passes through the Strait of Hormuz. I want to go back, though, to the politics of this because I think, you know, we're seeing it sort of crystallize in real time.

10:54But I actually maybe I disagree a little bit. To me, it seems like a political gimme to the Democrats. Democrats were already coalescing in a pretty strong way around the country. You know, again, there's local conditions. But on this idea that Donald Trump came to office saying he was going to make things better for Americans and deal with out of control prices. Instead, he's literally driven up not only the cost of oil, but it's going to affect every single price for just about everything. I mean, when you drive up the price of energy, you drive up the price of food, you drive up the price of manufactured goods.

11:29To me, that seems like a gimme for Democrats. Yeah, totally. I mean, 100%. I think the only thing that's mystifying to me is why you don't hear the opposition even more forcefully coming out of the Democrats on the Hill. I mean, you do hear some of it. A lot of it is cast as kind of a consumer issue, as you say, prices, gas. But it's such an easy issue, really, as you say. It's just, you know, low-hanging fruit, really. I mean, and the thing about gas prices is that everybody sees actually the numbers. I mean, it's one of those few items that you buy where you can see every single day how the prices are going up.

12:13Eggs are a little more complicated to watch. But gas prices, everybody sees the whole thing. It is a complete gift to the Democrats, except for the fact that it's an incredibly upsetting situation, too. I mean, this isn't something that anybody feels good about. I mean, we're all worried. This is dangerous. People are dying. We're afraid of American troops being sent and maybe for nothing. The Iranian regime is hideous. And I mean, it's a very disturbing situation. So it's not like a happy issue. Well, one of the things I think we're going to talk about with our guest in a second, Morris Katz, is that question of rising prices actually is a wedge into a larger issue, which is about these feelings of inequity in American life.

13:02There are some people who, frankly, don't have to care about rising gas prices. A lot of them are people running this country right now in the sense that they're not the people who are feeling the pinch. And so one of the moves is whether or not Democrats are in the position to be able to say, yes, we're talking about gas prices. But really, what this is about, is about a profound imbalance in power and money. It's about the billionaire class. That's the kind of question that is a strategic question. And even beyond just the billionaire class, there is one group for whom this is just a great boon economically, and that's the oil companies.

13:36The American oil companies are making billions in profits. So is Vladimir Putin. Well, there you go. For all these reasons, I'm really glad we're going to get to talk to someone who's a new generation of political consultant, a 26-year-old. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll be joined by political strategist Morris Katz to talk about the Democrats and the future of the party. This is The Political Scene from The New Yorker.

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15:17So, guys, really excited about this next guest. We are joined today by Morris Katz. As we were talking about, he's the political strategist behind Zoran Mamdani's historic upset. He's now working for some of the most interesting candidates around the country in this year's midterm elections. Morris, joining us right now from an Uber, which feels very on brand for the Democratic Party's, you know, Wunderkind traveling strategist. Where are you exactly today? I just landed in Chicago. I'm going to join David Axelrod this afternoon actually for a conversation on the future of media strategy in the Democratic Party.

15:53All right. So give us a preview of that, because I think, you know, for many people, David Axelrod, you know, kind of represents one view of where the Democratic Party should head. and, you know, this idea that it needs to, you know, communicate more effectively maybe, but it needs to come right down hard on, you know, the very large center that's not being spoken to. What's going to be your rejoinder for David Oxelrod? I think where David and I agree on a lot, and I think this is interesting with a lot of the Obama kind of folks and teams, in many ways it felt like they never took over the party, but there was kind of the institutional blob of the party remains.

16:34And particularly, I was doing my homework on the flight, and I rewatched every ad of the 2012 Obama campaign, where I think people can dismiss 2008 as lightning in a bottle, momentum, incredible. 2012, you're in the unpopular and competent surges back. It was one of the most populous presidential campaigns in American history. You know, it's ad after ad, hammering Mitt Romney as a Wall Street crony, one of the architects of a financial crisis. And if you in some ways look at that message, it is not radically dissimilar to certain elements of the message of Mayor Mdani's campaign, where it was, we have an affordability crisis.

17:12Do you want to put the same people back in charge? And I think, you know, there's a connection there that others have not picked up on for whatever reasons. I'm so glad you brought up the Obama campaign because, you know, I've been thinking a lot about your incredible ride that you and Mamdani have had over the last year. And, you know, we were all here and remember both the incredible momentum that the Obama folks came into Washington with, but also the out of control expectations for so many people. I mean, I really think there were people, understandably, who thought, you know, this guy is the future of American politics.

17:47He's going to stop the rise of the seas. He's going to make change. And I think about that when I think about some of those incredible promises that Mayor Mamdani made for people now starting to collide a little bit with the reality of getting stuff done. How are you feeling about, you know, the expectations moment for a candidate like Mamdani? already with not even 100 days in. You know, we've seen an agreement with the governor on universal child care on day nine of the administration. Hopefully, we'll see a rent freeze coming soon. I think there are ongoing negotiations and some other priorities.

18:23But I think kind of center of the mayor's promise is a belief that people should be allowed to accept things from their government and a vision of, you know, that I don't think is a strain to one policy, but rather the idea that We're not going to be apologetic about government's role in people's lives. That government should be big, it should be robust, and it also should be excellent. And I think what you're seeing, whether it's some of the cuts we're starting to implement around unnecessary and reckless spending, whether it's cutting red tape and regulation to make it easier to build, it's this kind of dual mission of making government excellent, and only through excellent government can we then expand it.

19:03The communication component of this, where I think a lot of people dismiss communication is like a campaign tactic. It's like, oh, the mayor's talks are cute, but what does it really do? I think it builds faith in government. It brings people into the governing process, and that's something you're seeing continue. And so, you know, governing is not easy, but I think you want to, you know, no one's naive to that, but I think we want people to feel like they're a part of that process too. Well, Morris, I want to go back to what you were talking about as this kind of this democratic blob that does not get it, that you're saying that sort of the Obama campaign did get it even in 2012.

19:42You've said that no one has a worse read on what electable means and less of a pulse on voters than the Democratic establishment in D.C. What exactly is the establishment getting wrong? Why is it getting it wrong, do you think? And what would be right? You're going to get me in trouble here. look i think let's talk about me for a second i'm working with uh gram platner gram nine months ago was an oyster farmer with zero percent name by date and currently he's up 30 points on the incumbent governor who's been in public office like twice as long as i've been alive that is because there is such a fundamentally deep frustration with the status quo both from an economic standpoint, societal standpoint.

20:30And I think the idea that we're just going to kind of match that with the same people who've been in power all along makes no sense. And I think there's the reality that many of democratic leadership want to see the democratic party play a role of protecting the institutions, protecting the powers that be. We are past that point. Like the institutions as they exist now are going to collapse. It's not a question of Whether that happens or not, it's a question of who's going to rebuild them. Which institutions do you mean? I mean, are you talking about Social Security and Medicare? Are you talking about the DNC?

21:07I mean, which institutions do you mean? I'm talking about the broader kind of structural promises of the economy. I'm talking about the ways in which people engage with the social safety net. I'm talking about the way we view America's role in the world as we kind of stomp right into another endless war where we continue to, you know, not have health care gets rolled back. I think like the fundamental promise that people feel with the government is going to change. And I think that there's only been an idea of like an over caution. You know, we just need to keep this thing intact because it's kind of fundamentally working.

21:45And I think people really want to see bigger risks or swings of more aggressive vision for intervention on anti-monopoly legislation, on expansion of social safety nets, on aggressive taxing of the rich and going after bad faith actors, whether they be corporations or billionaires. And queer politicians aren't doing it. That is a really interesting realm of this conversation is essentially what are we talking about when we talk about affordability? You know, I've always been interested in the language around this. I mean, in some places you can talk very plainly, one can talk very plainly about inequality, about imbalances of power and of money.

22:26In other places where maybe we still kind of have the residue of that belief that you can, as, you know, Barack Obama put it now so many years ago, you can make it if you try an idea which is really kind of desiccated in a lot of the country. People don't believe that. And that's a source of tremendous political energy. My question is this. Are there places where you can talk about affordability and then places where you can talk about inequality and vice versa? Or are they different things? Are we talking about the different facets of the same problem or separate issues? I think different facets of the same problem.

23:00But I will say, like, one thing that I think that President Obama did well, the mayor does, it's driving me crazy right now that the way people, I think, are co-opting affordability. and you're starting to hear politicians go and talk about affordability as if their job is a political pundit you know like they so and they're like you know affordability is a big issue and we need to talk about affordability and that's why i'm here right now talking to you about affordability and it's like that isn't the thing affordability needs to be partnered with real policies that are going to make people's lives actually affordable and am i allowed to curse on this or no it's yeah this is not yes and so i didn't want to offend the good people um i is like you can't tell someone hey you're being fucked but i'm not gonna tell you who's fucking yeah and the absence of a villain in so much of the dialogue here is infuriating where it's like people know it's not an accident that their paycheck doesn't go as far as it used to it's not an accident that every one of their favorite small businesses on their street or in their road closed and has been replaced by a corporate chain that doesn't have the same quality product or pay the same wages.

24:10It is the system that's broken, working as intended for a small percentage of people at the top. Like that is what's happening. And you need to call that out or it's meaningless. Okay, Morris. So let's talk about the villain who has united Democrats as nothing else has over the last 10 years, Donald Trump. You know, we're, I know, in Democratic primary season and Democrats love nothing more than to rip each other apart. But I'm actually really interested in your views on how much Donald Trump is the villain. You talked about institutions falling apart or a war starting. It's not a war that really has been started by the American people or the Congress, even the Republicans in Congress.

24:49It's a war that started by Donald Trump. Yet we're 10 years in and Democrats are still struggling. You know, principles of our country apart and therefore needs to bring people together. I think there's a lot of people who agree with that. And then there are plenty of Democrats who think, no, let's talk about health care. Let's talk about prices. You know, let's meet as your guide did. And you attended that, I think, with Donald Trump in the White House. I'm just curious, like, when you're thinking about 2026 and winning elections this fall, how are you going to advise people to talk about Donald Trump?